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Invasion of The Legion
Invasion of The Legion was a conflict with mysterious species named The Legion during the Reaper invasion in Prothean Cycle. Background At the end of the destructive Harvest of the Prothean Emipre, when only a few remnants of the resistance were fighting for their survival against Reaper forces, in Orilla Sector arrived a massive fleet of unknown species. Founding settlements in every star system they arrived, these creatures soon reached Orilla star system (the center of the Sector), the Reaper occupied space borders. Reaper scouts (two Reaper Dreadnoughts, eight Reaper Destroyers) on the orbit of a gas giant engaged in fight with twelve starships. The fight ended in a stalemate — Reapers lost six destroyers and retreated with heavy damage; Their foes left the system with only four ships left. Analyzing combat data, Catalyst found out that Reaper kinetic barriers were unable to protect them from weapons of these aliens, while their mass effect cannons could easily destroy their vessels. Catalyst also found out that their ships had both synthetic and organic elements, it considered that it could use their technologies to achieve its goal, but soon realized that these vessels weren't a result of Synthesis, but a very rude amalgamation of organic and synthetic materials not unlike husks Reapers were creating. Soon Reaper scouts found the way these creatures arrived in the Galaxy — massive portal (almost 13 000 km of diameter), located in the Nerosa system, connecting Milky Way to an unknown location somewhere in the Universe or beyond it. Catalyst decided to harvest these creatures as well, to gain their knowledge and a key to their technological marvels. The Conflict The Legion Arrival Soon the reason of their arrival was revealed — they were refugees, fleeing from the enemy they couldn't win, the enemy that arrived through the portal after them — large fleet of more than five hundred massive and powerful battleships entered the Nerosa system and immediately engaged in battle with these creatures, destroying all the settlements in the system within two local days and burning every rock planet and moon there until their surfaces melted and turned into glass. After Nerosa The Legion fleet invaded in nearby cluster, systematically destroying every refugee settlements and ships and setting every planet in these systems on fire. Believing that The Legion could assault Reaper occupied space, the Catalyst gathered massive Reaper fleet (Harbinger including) in the Orilla system. Fourteen systems were devastated until the Reapers noticed the refugees were gathering all their forces. Catalyst expected they were planning a counterattack, but soon realized it was wrong. Battle at Gakiha Almost five months after The Legion arrived in the Galaxy and began burning every star system, where they detected their opponents, the refugees gathered all their remaining forces (almost 1700 starships) and suddenly attacked Reaper scout fleet over the orbit of Gakiha (a massive gas giant in the Orilla system), completely destroying it. Catalyst sent 70% of the remaining Reaper fleet to Gakiha, engaging all hostile forces around the planet and its moons. Twenty-eight-hour long fierce fight was a disaster — Reapers were outnumbered and outgunned — 32 Reapers and 67 Destroyers were lost. But Catalyst didn't plan to give up — it merged four Reaper fleets from the nearby cluster and launched another attack on Gakiha, but it failed as well — almost the whole fleet (more than 107 Reapers and 156 Destroyers) was obliterated. Realizing that the war with these creatures would be more violent than with the Prothean Empire during first years of the Harvest, Catalyst began gathering all free forces to block the Orilla Sector, still knowing these creatures would avoid Mass Relay routes with their own advanced FTL technologies. But it received a signal from Harbinger — The Legion fleet entered the Orilla System. The Legion divided their fleet — the larger part attacked hostile forces over Gakiha, while another one, evading Reaper forces led by Harbinger, was sent directly to the Orilla star. The Legion battleships were luckier than the Reapers' — striking from long distance and keeping away from their heavy cannons, the main fleet ships took some damage but no losses. At the same time, the little battlegroup (almost fifteen vessels) made a micro-jump to the star. Soon Reapers detected these battleships were affecting the star, causing it to collapse and turn into supernova. Reapers retreated and went through the Mass Relay before the supernova, although The Legion weren't hurrying — they remained in the system until the star exploded, and went to FTL moments before it swallowed Gakiha, vaporizing every sign of the refugee fleet and structures. With the refugees exterminated, there was a chance that The Legion would return to their space, but soon the Reapers received transmission from The Legion — now they were declaring war to the Reapers, planning to exterminate them as well. The Final Battle Analyzing The Legion combat tactics and their capabilities, the Catalyst decided that destruction of the Orilla star system could be a desperate action of The Legion — there was a chance they wished to end their enemies as soon as possible. It decided to play on their desperation — it sent the remaining Reaper fleets in Orilla Sector to the Nerosa system and ordered them to destroy the portal. The portal was guarded by three battleships, and, despite the fact they were outnumbered, they could hold Reapers long enough (though, Reapers could damage the portal and destroy one battleship) until the remaining five hundred vessels arrived. Following orders of the Catalyst, Harbinger changed the Reaper formation, clearing the path for The Legion to the portal — it believed that the desperation would force them to return home rather than being stuck in alien space, and the plan worked — The Legion vessels formed defensive formation around damaged portal and began evacuation. When all the vessels went through the portal, the last remaining battleship sent last message to the Reapers and self-destructed, vaporizing itself and the portal with blast. Aftermath The Legion were the most powerful and advanced species the Reapers had ever met. They were aggressive and ruthless, they destroyed fifty billion living creatures without any shown mercy and burnt every star system they settled. Catalyst couldn't understand the reason of it — such an advanced civilization wouldn't perform a genocide of that scale, but they did it. Catalyst theorized that such an aggressive species would indeed return to claim the victory they had lost, but the only thing it could do was to order Nazara, the Reaper that would be left in the Galaxy, to alert the Reapers if it would detect anything that would seem were signs of The Legion's arrival. During the following Harvest in 2186 AD Cyrus Korb learned about this conflict when, during one of the attempts of the Reapers to indoctrinate him, he managed to access the Catalyst memory data. He informed members of the coalition military council about the species that was much more powerful than the Reapers. Asari and salarian representatives insisted they had to try to contact The Legion, but human, turian and krogan members suggested they may bring in the Galaxy far more destructible enemy than the Reapers, and decided to keep that information in secret.